‘Recovery Road’ Addiction Drama Picked Up To Series By ABC Family

ABC Family has picked up to series Recovery Road, its drama pilot based on the popular young adult novel by Blake Nelson about a teenage girl dealing with addiction. This marks the first scripted series order for Karey Burke since she joined the network as EVP, Programming and Development in October. About a week earlier, ABC Family had made a decision on the two other drama pilots from its 2014 batch, the supernatural Stitchers, which went to series — the network’s first procedural — and the tennis-themed Unstrung, which didn’t go forward.

Written by Bert V. Royal (Easy A) and Karen DiConcetto (Ruby & The Rockits), Recovery Road centers on Maddie, a party girl who doesn’t think she has a problem until she’s confronted one day by her school guidance counselor and is forced to choose between expulsion and rehab. Maddie makes the difficult decision to live with other recovering addicts at a rehab facility, while facing the daily pressures of her teenage life. “This series will explore relevant social issues for our audience and shine a light on addiction,” Karey said.

Royal and DiConcetto executive produce alongside Craig Piligian and Beth Miller from Pilgrim Studios, and Danielle VonZerneck. This marks the first scripted series for prolific reality producer Piligian, who segued to scripted fare with a couple of Lifetime movies in the past few years, including Abducted: The Carlina White Story.

The pickup of the abduction-themed Recovery Road comes on the heels of ABC Family giving a straight-to-series order to docu-series My Transparent Life, which also deals with a difficult subject matter — a teen son with a transgender father.